Mozzart Bet, one of Kenya’s betting sites that was accused of faking betting jackpot winners to lure desperate Kenyans into chasing false dreams, has once again found itself at the center of controversy after the Court of Appeal ruled that Ksh256 million linked to the company were proceeds of crime.
In a judgment delivered by Justices Francis Toiyott, Fred Ochieng, and Aggrey Muchelule, the court upheld a decision to forfeit the funds to the state, noting that Mozzart Bet failed to provide a credible explanation for the money’s origin.
The funds were reportedly paid to a shell company, Kimaco Connection Ltd, for a betting software deal that investigators said never existed.
According to the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), Kimaco had no employees, no income, no operational infrastructure, and had filed nil tax returns with the Kenya Revenue Authority. Despite claiming to offer software development services, the company simply acted as a conduit to channel money back to Mozzart Bet’s directors—Branimir Melentijevic, Emmanuel Charumbira, and Musa Cherutich Sirma—through questionable transactions.
The court concluded that the arrangement was a clear case of money laundering designed to disguise the true ownership and source of the funds.
“If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” the judges stated, calling Kimaco a textbook example of a shell company.
This development adds to Mozzart Bet’s troubled record. The company was previously accused of staging fake jackpot wins to attract players, exploiting the hopes of struggling Kenyans chasing instant wealth. The misleading campaigns pushed many into compulsive gambling and financial ruin.
